'You can do anything'

All fish, flesh and fowl appeared at the 17th Alexandria Film Festival. Nor was that all. Mohamed El-Assyouti tracked down jury head Jaya Bachchan, and spoke with director François Gérard about bargain basement filmmaking
'You can do anything'
When a Hollywood production can cost anything up to $200 million, films continue to be made throughout the world on shoe-string budgets. François Gérard's Meet the Baltringues, entered in the international competition of Alexandria Film Festival, is one such. It cost $20,000
The idea for Gerard's debut feature came when he spent a year and a half in a hospital, nursing a friend who had seriously injured his leg. He wrote the screenplay in two weeks and then rewrote it over a longer period. He also produced, directed, acted, operated the camera, foley recorded, co-edited, co-mixed the sound, worked on the special effects and colour timed the film in three labs in Spain and France. He worked 20 hours a day during the nine weeks of shooting. Mixing sound and music took seven weeks in sound studios. He built an Avid system for the editing, which took 11 weeks. And though, overall, this first film was four years in the planning, it cost only $20,000.
Gerard never attended film school or worked as an assistant. He learned everything through experience, making two short films: during the first he learned to use the camera, and in the second manipulate it.
Gerard believes that when you don't have money you can do anything, because you're forced to be organised.
"All the actors need to be trained -- how to breathe, to speak, be framed. I usually let them do what they like in order to be comfortable on the set, rehearse and then choose my angles and lens. I just want to express feelings and emotions. Once you get the meaning you can film it. If the actors don't use my words it's no problem. I adapt myself to every actor, since I have a system for everybody. It's not one size fits all.
I worked both in front of and behind the camera. I had to be confident, especially since I used no monitor to make sure things went alright.
I never choose or dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. I had a difficult childhood. I didn't live with my parents. I'm what they call beur (someone whose parents are Algerian emigrants). I was born and raised in France yet I'm not considered a 100 per cent French citizen by French people. My parents came to Algeria during the war in the early 1960s, then they didn't get along and separated and I had to go to an orphanage until I turned 18. I wanted to be a soccer player before the movies came and picked me up.
I went to see pictures in the theatre and that was a wonderful experience. I felt free. I saw people on the screen who have different lives and I forgot about my own self. The movie theatre is one of the last places of freedom, to which one can escape from the toughness of reality. It must be like religion, you get connected with your mind. Once it's dark everyone is the same. Whether rich or poor, you share a common experience with everyone else. I discovered films from all over the world. For 17 years I saw at least a film a day. If you look at my film you'll find influences from so many directors though I'm not following in the footsteps of any single one.
It was not just seeing pictures that helped me but also reading and learning from the experiences of others about how tough it is to make a film. When you know the experience of the people who came before you, you know that whatever you're in is not new, others have been through it, so you feel more relaxed. Orson Welles, in his late career, had to sneak in with students hidden in a truck, bribe the gate keeper, to use the facilities of a studio. He would have done anything to make pictures.
I like to make films like Cassavettes's brand of free cinema -- with just a few friends and a camera. Those people inspired me to make films.
If you look at pictures: you think it's like Everest or Kilimanjaro -- but in reality it's work. Only work. Cinema is not just Spielberg or Hitchcock. Cinema is not just Hollywood. It belongs to whoever wants to make it. This is what inspired me to make pictures. I never dreamed of being a filmmaker. It was never my intention to show off or demonstrate that I can make a film. But I wanted to tell a story, share the same experience with others and extract them from the reality of the world which has nothing to offer us. I'd love the people in Palestine and Israel to watch pictures and see their similarities and forget about their problems and differences. I'd like to go back to the roots of cinema like Dogma 95. I wanted people to laugh, not like in Hollywood comedies, but with some meaning that will stay after you leave the film. I don't have any message but a view of the world. People need to live together without waving a flag.
It's tough being a beur in France. I was not accepted and I dreamed of being accepted. You can have a different level of understanding in a picture. Most of the people who are just looking for entertainment are moved when they see characters from diverse backgrounds hanging out together; hence their lives may change a little. The world is tough but by doing this you extract yourself from its toughness.
I don't want the difference of religions or political persuasions to be at the centre of my picture. We talk about social problems, poverty, religions, unemployment and the toughness of the system. I try to find my own angle. You have to be very careful about what your eyes see. What you see is never the reality. If you just believe your eyes you get it wrong and make judgements. Always find what's behind; who's pulling the strings. The Chinese say: When the wise man points at the moon, the stupid man looks at the finger.
Today there is no reality. You have to think and put things in perspective. In France C+ wanted me to work for them after the film, but I refused. We can work together but I'll not stop making movies to have a steady job.
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